Icarus: Too Close to the Sun
by theforgetfulalchemist
Summary: A generation after HOO, a new demigod named Aaron Fletcher fights his way to camp Jupiter, befriends the children of the Seven, and struggles to find his place in camp. But when he finds out about his father and his past, he wonders if he isn't flying too close to the sun...
1. Prologue: Out of Time

Prologue: Out of Time

Aaron Fletcher was in deep trouble.

It had been an hour since the first monster had attacked him and his mother in their tiny San Fran apartment.

Forty-five minutes since his mother had explained about the gods.

Thirty minutes since the gorgons were on his tail.

And he was five minutes fro his destination.

"It's useless dearie" one gorgon crooned above him.

Sh was flying right over his head and swooped down to rip a harsh gash in his back.

"Argh!"

Two minutes….one minute….thirty seconds….

He could see the door now.

Two sentries manned it: a tall black haired boy a little older than him and a black girl his own age.

They waved for him and the last thing he thought before succumbing to blood loss and unconsciousness was how beautiful the girl was with her gold eyes and delicate light dark skin and curly hair…

….."You're beautiful" were his first words as he regained consciousness and with horror realized the girl was sitting right next to him.

Her hands were over her mouth and she was blushing.

And then there was a roaring laughter and his vision came back enough to see the boy was there too, his green eyes sparkling as he laughed. They were in some kind of medical tent with a cot and medical tools, like an army surgery.

"Looks like Em finally has a boyfriend"

"Shut up Odie" the girl snapped. "The kid's hurt, he's delirious."

But she was still blushing and all Aaron could do was stutter

"Uh…."

"Sorry, sorry..." the boy chuckled. "Welcome to camp, anyway."

That got his attention. He tried to sit up.

"This...is camp Jupiter? I made it?"

The girl finally made eye contact with him and smiled. Okay, all not completely lost.

"I guess we can skip the 'so you're a demigod' PSA film."

"There's….there's a film?" Aaron asked drunkenly, still woozy from the blood lost.

She giggled. "No." Then she made him lay down by gently pressing on his chest which made his heart beat fast.

"I'm Emily. Emily Zhang."

"Z...Zhang?"

"Yeah. Dad's Chinese. This is my cousin Odie."

"Odysseus" the boy said sharply "My name's Odysseus. Odie is a dog in a comic strip."

Emily swatted him playfully and he wished he had known his cousins growing up.

Just then a short but beautiful woman came in holding what looked like linens and something purple. She smiled broadly showing off brilliant white teeth than contrasted with her dusky black skin.

"I see your new friend is awake. Em, get your father. Odie, get the medic."

Emily gave him a bashful grin and Odie—Odysseus—punched him lightly on the arm before they left the tent.

"I see you met my daugher. And Odie. He's the son of friends of mine, the Jacksons."

"Yes, ma'am" so that was what they had meant, being cousins.

"I'm Hazel Zhang."

"Aaron Fletcher. A pleasure , ma'am."

"And you know? About the gods?" she asked, giving him the purple thing which turned out to be a tshirt with SPQR on the chest.

He exchanged it for his RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE shirt.

"Kind of" he said, wiggling his head through. "My mom told me a bit….our apartment was attacked….do you think she's okay?"

His throat constricted. He had never been so scared, or so scared for his mother, in his fourteen years of living.

"The monsters would be after you, not her" she said gently. "But you can contact her just as soon as we patch you up."

As if on cue a wiry teen boy came in and made him eat a piece of bread. Instantly blood flowed to his cheeks and his injury healed.

"Woah" he gasped.

Mrs. Zhang chuckled. "The first time you have ambrosia is always a shock. What'd it taste like?"

"Like...like the orange chicken at Chang's,a restaurant on my street.

Her eyes became distant "Mine is always gumbo..."

she shook her head and smile at him.

"So you're mother is human...do you know who your father is?"

"besides apparently being a god? Not a clue."

"Well" she said, throwing him the white line which he saw was a toga, like an honest to god toga.

"We'll find out."

She helped him put the toga on ("It may be big….it's an old one of my husband's….")

He pushed himself up and opened the tent flap, determined to find out who he was.

A _/N: This idea has been floating around in my since I wrote Aaron into Letter In Ink. I've been wanting to do something with my second gen characters so here this is!_

 _If you have not read Letter in Ink this second gen universe is like this: Frank and Hazel have one daughter, Emily Marie Zhang. Annabeth and Percy have four Children: Odysseus, Sarah, James, and George. Both families live at Camp Jupiter and they work for the camp. Piper and jason have twin sons, Aneas and Vincent and they are counselors at Camp Half-Blood. Leo and Calypso have two sons and a daughter and they run an auto shop in Texas._

 _And that is all you need to know! I hope you like this small prologue and pleade feel free to comment! Thank you for reading!_


	2. Chapter 1: Son of a God

Chapter One: Son of a God

The first thing Aaron saw when he left the tent was a giant.

A hulking Asian man was striding toward them. He had the square jaws of a bulldog and the eyes of a lion. He had to be nearly seven feet tall. His perfect military haircut wisped in the wind as he made his way down the hill.

He was about to duck and cover before Mrs. Zhang and the giant smiled at each other.

"Hazel!" He said happily, drawing her into a kiss. Them he remembered.

 _Dad's Chinese_

"Mr. Zhang?"

Mr. Zhang's eyes crinkled into a smile. "You can call me Frank"

They shook hands "Aaron Fletcher, sir."

"So I've heard" Mr. Zhang chuckled. "Emily is suddenly determined to let the whole world know you are not her boyfriend"

"Oh..." Aaron deflated because how else could he feel about a cute girl denying attraction to him?

Mr. Zhang grinned "Don't take it seriously. It's only her cousin is giving her a hard time. If I know my daughter she will be singing your praises to Sarah in a week. In strict confidence of course." he winked.

"Sarah…?"

"Odie's sister. Speaking of Odie…." he looked past the hill, shading his eyes from the noon sun. "I think he and Em are eating lunch on the hill. You must be starving. Why don't you go and get a bite to eat with them?"

Relived he didn't have to face other demigods he didn't know quite yet when he was still scared and disoriented and slightly nauseuous, he nodded and trudged over to where Mr. Zhang had pointed.

Sure enough, they were sitting on a blue picnic blanket, eating sandwiches, thick soup, and….

"Hey, is that orange chicken?" he blurted out. They looked up and smiled at him (Emily bashfully)

"Yeah, my dad's specialty" she said, patting the space beside her.

He grinned and sat down, helping himself to chicken. Hr e hadn't realized how ravenous he was.

As he ate, he admired a set of seven statutes all of teen demigods, four boys and three girls that stood imposing on the hill. Somehow, the sculptor had captured their wiry awkward statures. They looked like real kids, which comforted him somewhat.

It was a full several minutes of admiring them before he recognized the two at the end, a small black girl with intense eyes and a smiling Asian boy with thick jowls.

He nearly choked on his food.

"Is that...is that your mom and dad?"

Emily rolled her eyes and smiled like it embarrassed her. "Yeah….they're part of the Seven"

"The Seven?"

"Dude, the Seven" Odysseus said through a mouthful of turkey sandwich.

"Odie, he won't know about them, he just got here" Emily chided "Long time ago" she explained "There was a huge war...the giant war. It's complicated but basically a bunch of huge giants anted to take over the world, eradicate humanity, blah blah blah….well whenever that happens a quest had to be called, right? That's how it was in the old days. But this was no ordinary quest...it needed to be the best of the best. So, Hera chose the seven greatest of our parents' generation to stop the war. Two were my parents. Two were Odies'"

She pointed and Aron looked up at a statue of an intelligent looking girl with long messy hair and a boy who looked so much like Odysseus he wondered how he could have missed it.

His throat died. That husband and wife he met...they were heroes, real live heroes who saved the world.

And he was having lunch with their daughter and honorary nephew.

It was then that the enormity of the situation washed over him. H was in a new place, a new home that he had to make his own, and how could he do that with important people like Emily and Odysseus, the children of heroes, when he was the child of noone. Noone to them, anyway.

But his father was a god….that had to count for something….then again, everyone's parent was a god here.

"Don't worry" Emilys said reassuringly, as if reading his thoughts. "Noones anay better than anyone else here, not really. The old families pretend they're bigshots but it's all talk."

"Are you from an old family?"

"Ha, are you kidding?"

A blond boy with glasses wearing a toga had jogged up to them, panting "The Zhangs and the Jacksons are the biggest families in camp.'"

Emily frowned. "Virgil, what do you want?"

"Virgil? Like the poet?" Aaron asked.

The boy nodded vigorously. "Exactly. Named for him. I'm the augur" he shook Aaron's hand. "I just got word about you and..."

He pulled out a stuffed lion toy with a jagged knife in its' tiny fabric chest.

Aaron paled "What the…?"

"The augury" Emily said gently "You know like, prophecy from entrails and birds and stuff? Only now we use toy animals, obviously…."

"And they have indicated you are qualified to join the legion!" Virgil said excitedly, isn't that great news?"

Aaron's throat constricted again. There was a test for joining? That he didn't even know about?

But the real test was muster, which took place right after lunch.

Odysseus lent him an old set of armor. And by armed, Aaron though, they meant a personal tank. He was so covered in chest guard, helmet,greeves, pilum and shield he could hardly walk.

Emily could barely help him in line in time for roll.

A tall boy with straight black cropped hair that looked like a quarterback galloped past on a horse inspecting the troops.

"Today, a new demigod has come to us" he boomed "Aaron Fletcher, come forth"

He tried to take a step, but hit a rock or something and soon he was face down in the muck. Said muck seemed to include manure from the football player dude's horse.

The camp roared with laughter except Odie and Emily who gently helped him up.

"Enough" The football player snapped. "Virgil, what have the auguries said?"

Virgil took a step forward "Yes, Marcus. He is qualified."

"Then, what cohort will have him?"

"Ours!" Odysseus called out.

"Marcus frowned "Are you sure, Centurion Jackson?"

Odie and Emily glared at their cohort until they mumbled consent.

"Fine" Marcus threw him a small necklace with a tablet. It had his name, a roman numeral five and "probatio" written on it.

Obey the rules, uphold the dignity of Rome. Seantus Popoluque Romanus"

The cheer was repeated by the cohorts and to Aaron it sounded like a challenge he could not win.

Fortunately the first camp activity after lunch wasn't a challenge.

It was archery (which Emily explained her father had introduced to camp curriculum-before it was considered barbaric)

And Aaron could shoot. He could shoot a gun, he could shoot a basketball.

And he could sure as hell shoot a bow.

While everyone got a bulls eye or two, some going wide, some at the edge of the targets, he was getting bulls eyes period. All the time.

His quiver was empty of its' hundred arrows before he knew it. And every one had been on target.

He was panting with exertion but smiling "How do you like that?"

Then everyone gasped.

"Oh my gods, Aaron, look" Emily whispered

"Dude," Odysseus breathed "I guess we know who your dad is now."

Aaron looked up.

Above his head was a bright golden light.

In the shape of a harp.

 _A/N: Son of Apollo! Stay tuned! Thank you for reading!_


	3. Chapter 2: The First Year

Chapter 2: The First Year

He was something of a sensation overnight.

Kids kept coming up to him, congratulating him on being claimed (he learned that's what it' called when your godly parent acknowledges you) and his shooting.

They claimed he could out shoot Mr. Zhang, which he seriously doubted.

At dinner, people kept asking him to join him but he be-lined for the back where Emily and Odie were sitting.

They weren't nice to him just because he could shoot well. They had been kind to him from the beginning.

"Hey man" Odie said with a mouth full of burger. "Heard you tore up marksmanship practice. Nice."

He offered a fist that Aaron bumped, grinning.

"Thanks, man."

"Not even Dad could do that" Emily said with awe. "You will so kill at war games tonight."

Aaron blushed and he didn't know if it was from the comparison or the admiration in her voice or both.

"What's war games?" he asked eventually, settling down to Chinese food a wind nymph served him.

"Fun, that's what" Emily said "We have a controlled skirmish. Half the cohorts versus the other half. You'll love it"

Aaron doubted this too.

Someone was making his way to their table which Aaron noticed right away because instead of being a small child or wiry teen like the rest of them, he was a full grown man.

He wore an SPQR shirt and held a Roman style helmet under his arm. Aaron figured he was a counselor and his dark wispy hair and green eyes told him exactly who he was.

"Hi Dad" Odie called.

"Odie!" The man smiled. Up close Aaron could see his black hair was peppered with white.

"You forgot your helmet, bud" the man said. He handed the helmet over and turned his smile on Aaron.

"And you must be Emily's not-boyfriend."

"Uncle Percy!" Emily shrieked, blushing.

"Uh...I'm Aaron, sir, yes." he stammered. He recognized the man from his statue. This was one of the seven.

"Well, I have good news for you" He beamed '"Technically, Virgil should be doing this but since I was coming over anyway… hold out your hand."

Aaron did, obediently.

"This will hurt"

"What?"

"We accept Aaron Fletcher into his first year of service" Mr. Jackson recited in answer.

Suddenly a searing hot pain jumped down his arm and he yelped.

When hit passed, he was breathing hard. Now, where his arm was bare, was a black inked tattoo of a harp and a line above it.

"A tat..." he mumbled "My mom'll kill me"

Mr. Jackson smiled. " She should be proud. You get your first stripe one of two ways: stay it out a year or do an act of valor. There was an official decision to count your perfect shooting streak as an act of valor. Welcome to camp, Aaron."

Just then a conch blew.

It was time for war games.

A/n: Next time—war games! Thank you for the reviews and than you all for reading!


	4. Chapter 3: Son of the Father

Aaron marched awkwardly as his team—including Emily and Odie—made their way to the Field of Mars.

His memories swirled in his mind. A harp had appeared above his head…Apollo's symbol...

His mother had always kept a harp in her room. It was an old thing, dusky gold and not tuned but it was her treasure.

"Your father loved harp music" she had once told him. H had been eleven, and more practical than most sixth graders. He had suggested they sell the thing for grocery money

"I'm not getting rid of it. It connects me to him, Aaron."

He had scoffed at the time. What, connected to a deadbeat who left you near homeless and pregnant?

But now he realized why his father had never been around. It didn't make it hurt less. But it made sense, for the first time in his life.

And other things began to make sense.

"He loved poetry" his mother had said "I met him in a poetry class..."

He had heard the story a million times.

She had been a freshman in college when she met his father in poetry 101. he had been handsome and silver-tongued and indulgent.

He loved listening to her poetry out loud. In return he played her the harp and composed poetry of his own abut her beauty and talent and grace.

She had been pregnant by the end of her freshman year.

And the rest was his story. How he was born in a halfway home. How his mother worked her way to a community college degree and a pizza joint job.

How she saved and scraped by with three jobs for fourteen years without complaining.

He had always resented his father for not taking responsibility, but he was beginning to see his father had been there without his knowing it. Food left on the door when his mother couldn't scrape by. Presents under the Christmas tree that his mother could never afford.

These thoughts swam in his head until he realized he was at the field.

"We're here" Emily whispered

The army before him should have awed him but instead his attention was taken by a tall teen boy standing on the ramparts.

A boy with Aaron's bright hair and smooth face.

A boy who was glowing.

He winked at Aaron and mouthed _Good luck, kid_.

Before disappeared in the dark.

He blinked and snapped to attention as Odie cried

"Fifth Cohort! Attack!"

A/N: Forgive my lack of updates recently! I have begun a graduate program in which I am student teaching during the day and taking classes during the evening. Added to this I have had family over and have moved and have gotten a new pet (a beautiful blue betta fish named Ahab) so I have been extremely busy!

I want to thank you all for asking for more! It makes me happy you like this story so much you want it to continue! Your kind comments mean so much to me! So as always, thank you for reading!

Also I have read Magnus Chase and loved it so look forward for some MC fics :)


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